The 2015 Award Winner: Mary A. Lehman
Prince George’s County Councilwoman Mary A. Lehman is the 2015 recipient of the Prince George’s Sierra Club’s Maloney Environmental Service Award. First elected to the council in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, Lehman is being honored for her significant contribution to adoption of county-wide environmental legislation that will increase renewable energy and energy efficiency and reduce polluted runoff and solid waste.On renewable energy and energy efficiency, Lehman proposed legislation that offers property tax credits to residents who lease solar and geothermal energy devices (CB-77-2012), and that requires renewable energy in new and substantially renovated County buildings (CB-83-2013). She initiated the adoption of “green fleet” policies for the County’s fleet of more than 4,000 vehicles (CR-28-2014). The resolution set a goal of reducing the fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25% between 2015 and 2025, required the County to do an inventory of its fleet and the emissions of each vehicle, and required new vehicles to have increased fuel economy, with a target share of hybrid and zero-emissions vehicles that gradually increases over time.
Lehman has contributed to reducing polluted runoff through a bill establishing the Rain Check Stormwater Rebate Program for county residents who install rain barrels, rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavement, tree plantings, and conservation landscaping (CB-40-2012). With Councilwoman Deni Taveras, she introduced a ban on the use and sale of coal tar pavement products that are responsible for runoff contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are harmful to aquatic life and are suspected human carcinogens (CB-6-2015).
She also has had a substantial impact on the County’s solid-waste policies and programs. In 2012 she introduced with then-Councilman Eric Olson a bill that updated recycling policies, raising the recycling goal to 60% by 2020, establishing pilot compost and commercial and industrial recycling programs, and banning plastic bags in the curbside collection of yard waste (CB-87-2012). In 2014, Lehman introduced a resolution establishing an “environmentally-preferred purchasing policy” that requires the County to incorporate environmental considerations into its annual procurement of over $300 million in goods and services (CR-29-2014). Most recently, with Councilwomen Dannielle Glaros and Deni Taveras, she spearheaded a ban on expanded polystyrene foam food containers and packing peanuts (CB-5-2015). For many years, Lehman has advocated for a fee on disposable bags in Prince George’s County that would reduce plastic bag trash and encourage the use of reusable shopping bags.
The award was presented to Ms. Lehman on Saturday, June 13, at the Prince Georges’ Sierra Club Group’s annual picnic at Watkins Regional Park in Upper Marlboro. Print-friendly version